I have heard in personal conversations and in the news media that the Republican Party as we have known it is gone. Where does it go from here?

For a bit of history, President George H.W. Bush lost his bid for re-election in 1992, and the Democrats were in total control, having had the majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives since 1958, the second year of Dwight Eisenhower's second term.

Did the Republican Party fold its tent?

To the contrary, two years later, in 1994, the Republicans won both the Senate and the House and held those majorities until 2006.

During the 36 years of Democratic control of Congress, Republicans won the White House with Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. The Republicans are in the majority in the House today.

What does the Republican Party need to do to elect another president?

I believe the party will continue to do what it does best: organize and energize the grass roots members with information and education including a great effort to get out the vote.

It is not too soon to start working on candidate recruitment and all the elements for the 2014 election, while analyzing the recent elections.

The new technology of today makes the analysis phase much more sophisticated.

Many Senate seats will be up in 2014 as well as every seat in the House, and leadership is continually being developed in preparation for the future.

The Republicans must be ready for the next primary season, just three years away.

Lou Brown is vice chairwoman of the Tom Green County Republican Party.

TERRY CAMPBELL

Let's be clear. The Democratic Party did not win the election; the Republican Party lost it. The country club, inside-the-Beltway elites of the establishment wing of the Republican Party picked a well-qualified, but moderate, candidate as their nominee.

True conservatives were ostracized by the Republican Party bigwigs. A good example was at the convention in Tampa, Fla. In an effort to silence the Ron Paul/libertarian contingent, they illegally forced through rule changes that prevented participation by any of the grass roots groups. Big mistake.

As a result, most of the true conservative groups, such as the Tea Party, had a real dilemma on Election Day. No one wanted the socialist Obama re-elected. What should we do? Hold our noses and vote for Romney? Vote for the Libertarian, Gary Johnson? Or just not vote at all?

From election results, it appears all three options were exercised. There was just enough dissatisfaction with the establishment Republican Party to lose the presidential election.

The Republicans needed to gain only four Senate seats to take control. Because of their arrogance, they lost two seats.

All this, plus the changing demographics of the increase in minority voters on the liberal side was another major contributing factor. On the national level the election was a dismal failure for the establishment Republican Party.

One bright spot was locally and in Texas. All the Texas candidates supported by the San Angelo Tea Party won. Texas is the model the national Republican Party should adopt. Here, all conservative groups, San Angelo Tea Party, Concho Valley Republican Women, San Angelo Pachyderm Club and the Tom Green County Republican Party worked together and complemented each other to win.

Terry M. Campbell is president of the San Angelo Tea Party.

FRED CONTRERAS

What does the Republican Party need to do to win presidential elections going forward?

It's a big question because the Republican Party lost states such as Virginia, Florida and Colorado last week. As Hispanics continue to disperse South and West to Republican strongholds , the party becomes more at risk of losing votes at all levels.

As Hispanics make up more of the U.S. population, they also are transforming the country's politics. In this election, Hispanic voters represented 10 percent of the electorate, up from 9 percent four years ago.

"After 2012, the white vote in America shrinks to about 68 percent, and there's no path to the White House without a significant Hispanic vote," Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union and an ambassador in the Reagan administration, has said.

I agree. The numbers are changing in America. The Republican Party should first and foremost stick to the principles and values of lower taxes, less government and less government interference. These principles should not be compromised.

The Republican Party needs to communicate to the Hispanic community that the GOP principles fit its history, culture and values.

Republicans believe in hard work and self-sufficiency. Hispanics believe in the same.

Hispanics believe in family (they have one of the lowest divorce rates) and are very patriotic. Forty-four men of Hispanic heritage have been awarded the Medal of Honor. Of those, two were presented to members of the Navy, 13 to members of the Marine Corps and 29 to members of the Army. Twenty-five Medals of Honor were presented posthumously.

In short, the Republican Party does not need to change. We need to communicate better to Hispanic voters what we stand for and why they should join with us.

Fred Contreras is retired from the Army and is vice president of the San Angelo Pachyderm Club.

RUSS DUERSTINE

Like many on our side, I was shocked and confused by the election results. I incorrectly thought we would win the White House, and it was only a question of by how much.

I was dead wrong about the turnout out of young voters who carried President Obama in 2008, because more than any other demographic group, they affected the race favorably for the president.

In 2012, 13 percent of the vote was cast by blacks. In '04, it was 11 percent. This year, 10 percent was Latino. In '04 it was 8 percent. This time, 19 percent was cast by voters under age 30. In '04 it was 17 percent. Together, these results swelled Obama's support.

However, Obama is the first president in modern times to win re-election by a smaller margin than that by which he was first elected. McKinley, Wilson, FDR, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan and Clinton all increased their re-election vote share significantly. Obama's dropped from a seven-point margin over McCain to a less than three-point margin over Romney. What we gained in swing voters was not enough to overcome Obama's increased base vote.

In addition, Republicans won the House of Representatives during an Obama victory, when four years ago we were wiped out. With the Democrats holding onto the Senate, voters sent a confusing mixed message for sure.

Our party's challenge is to weather this storm and be prepared to explain our principles all over again to a new generation of voters. This generation has not experienced tax hikes, inflation levels, interests rates or fuel shortages like my generation did 35 years ago.

If left-wing policies finally deliver economic prosperity, we will be in the minority for a long time. However, if we are headed to repeat of the 1970s, we had better be ready to pick up a broken country and rebuild all over again.

Former Tom Green County Republican Party Chairman Russ Duerstine is a member of the State Republican Executive Committee.